


advice from the devil

by brightclam



Category: Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
Genre: Gen, general jedi order hate, yoda hate
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-18
Updated: 2017-08-18
Packaged: 2018-12-16 23:57:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11839710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brightclam/pseuds/brightclam
Summary: Anakin had never expected to be teaching his son about the force. But his time as Darth Vader gave him insight into the dark side that none of Luke’s other ghostly advisors can match.





	advice from the devil

\------  
It’s late and the party has worn down, the ewoks and rebels sleeping in piles along the walkways, leaving Luke alone in the firelight. He listens to an alien bird cry somewhere out in the dark forest and lets his eyes slip closed. He’s still jittery from the fight earlier, the force around him buzzing with fear and grief. He takes a couple deep breaths, doing his best to calm down. 

When he opens his eyes again, he’s no longer alone. His father’s ghost stands in front of him with a faint, awkward grin on his face, as if the motion of smiling is unfamiliar.

Luke sighs, both relieved to see him and uncomfortable with his presence. Even though he looks like Anakin, even though Luke had so desperately wanted his father to come back to the light, even though he can feel the light flowing through the ghost, it’s impossible to forget all that Darth Vader has done. With all the darkness he brought to the universe, he’s hard to be around.

Of course, Luke isn’t one to talk about darkness.

“Father.”

Anakin jumps, smiling brighter at the use of the word.

“Yes, Luke?”

Luke swallows, fighting to speak, his throat tight with shame.

“When Palpatine was still alive...when he told me all my friends were going to die...when he told me to take up the lightsaber and kill him...I did it. I wanted to kill him. I tried to kill him. And if you hadn’t stopped me I would have.”

Anakin, still seeped in the dark side, still covered in the blood of so many, can’t understand why Luke is upset.

“Yes. And?”

Luke shakes his head in frustration, buries his face in his hands. Maybe he should have talked to Obi Wan or Master Yoda about this instead. But they never tell him how to resist the dark side, the only tell him that he has to. So he tries again to get through to his father, hoping the fallen Jedi might offer a new level of understanding.

“I was letting my anger and hatred control me! How close was I to falling to the dark side? What if I do it again and turn against those I love?”

Anakin suddenly understands, seeing the desperation to live up to the jedi code he often saw in Ashoka and, much as he had tried to hide it, himself.

“I know I’m not the most trustworthy person to hear from when talking about this But I say this as Anakin, who spent years struggling with what you are now, and not Darth Vader, the Jedi who gave in to the dark side. So please, know I am saying this with no ill will.”

Luke nods. 

“I trust you, father.”

“The dark side is not as all consuming and inescapable as the jedi make it sound. We all have dark emotions in us, and we will always have them. Feeling those emotions, and maybe even touching the dark side once, will not corrupt you. You have to make the choice to turn to the dark side, it cannot force you. The jedi are guilty of an immense amount of fear mongering about the dark side. They thought that would be the best way to keep students from reaching out to it. But instead it just meant that people vulnerable to the dark side were left with no way to ask for help fighting it off, and thus they fell to it.”

Luke absorbs that, and then smiles up at Anakin.

“I guess that’s something I’ll have to fix when I restart the jedi.”

Anakin leans down, ghostly robes rustling, and presses a gentle kiss to Luke’s forehead.

“Do not worry, Luke. You will not fall the the dark side. You will learn from the mistakes we made, and maybe even fix them.”

Luke closes his eyes, throat tight. Darth Vader is perhaps the most flawed father one could have, but Luke is glad to have him. When he opens his eyes again, Anakin’s light has faded. The ghost is gone.

Luke sighs, breathes in the clean forest air. He whispers, so softly no one could hear it.

“Thank you, father.”  
\-----


End file.
